S/U not

I've decided to stay conservative and keep my S/U. It's tempting to SU genes because my CAP will jump by a bit, but I will never know how many electives I might take (and possibly screw up [Especially maths mods]).

My CAP is improving steadily, I hope it continues until I get a CAP 5 sem. Haha. Damn, I must be dreaming.

I'm going to embark on my first run since 2nd December! Haha. Almost a month of inactivity.

Surprises

Had many surprises over the past couple of days.

Just got back from Desaru with the gang. All I can say is, we are never ever gona go there ever again. I shall not whine about it too much here. But luckily, Zhongwei brought his newly acquired board and card games there. So it turned out to be less disappointing. Both Citadel and Pueto Rico are nice! We had a fun time producing 'bananas' haha.

I shall not talk more about the ants infested room, cracked walls, insecticide smelling room.

I am pleased with my results. Definitely. Of the 6 modules this sem, 5 were above expectation and the last one WAY WAY below expection.

I am pleasantly surprised with my Jap studies results. Never expected to do well for it considering that I had to make a guess between 2 choice for about 20% of the paper.

Although I got full marks for my Midterms for Econometrics I, I found the final paper much more tedious and wasn't confident of securing an A, but I got it.

Macroeconomics was my most confident paper, I told many people that, if I were to get only an A this sem, it would be macro. I was kind of expecting an A since I did fairly well during the midterms too, but never expected to be amongst the top 5%.

Genes and Society. This is least expected. I failed midterms, I didnt know how to do many of the questions in the final paper. But I got a B! But now because it is a B, I dont know if I should S/U it.

EA1101, lets face it. Those who know me well, know that my english is quite chui. Although I think in chinese sometimes, my chinese is even more chui. Haha. So this grade really flatters me. And I didnt disappoint Dr Ngoh, who was quite happy with my performances during the term.

Microeconomics. Disappointing. B-. Enough said. Still don't like Poddar. (To, my friends in EA1101 and ENS taking Micro I next sem, good luck.)

But on the whole, I am happy. =)

And my poor mouse is sick. Hugs. You will get well soon! =)

I haven't had the best of days.

Maybe I'm petty or something, but certain things will be better left unsaid.

Anyway, christmas eve dinner wasn't good at all too. Na and I were wondering if we would ever return to sketches ever again. Haha. And I think it is highly unlikely that we would.

But neoprints are nice! Hehe.

inspiration

I've been reading Joseph Stiglitz's Making Globalization Work.

It has definitely made the neurons in my brain work harder. I have developed an interest in Developmental Economics. Well, I already had interest in such things, but the interest just keeps growing.

Economic policies must not be applied to any country wholesale from a template. Minor twerks must be made to accomodate each country, because every country face different issues. We can't assume ceteris paribus. Sometimes, too much assumption makes things less complicated in theory, but when applied on a real situation, it just creates such a shit hole.

Markets, government, individuals and communities work hand in hand in the development of a country. Which I totally agree with Stiglitz, I don't buy Adam Smith's invisible hand fully. I support government's fiscal reforms to lay the foundation for economic growth. Government expenditure on infrastructure, communication and legislation on commerce and trade are all crucial to ensure a society of reasonable standard of living instead of growing income disparities between the rich and the poor.

Singapore was commended on her hard stances against corruption. And also her policy of having highly paid civil servants proved to be an effective tool in stamping out corruption.

I got 4 new books to read over this holiday. Haha. I am so not going to finish reading. 3 of them are on Economics. lol

Top civil servants pay adjustment

Well, with a boom economy that raised the rewards of the top management in the private sector. Big earners of the public sectors are receiving another pay adjustment above the one earlier this year.

As I've mentioned earlier, it would take my mum abt 171 years then to earn 1 yr of the salary of one of the highest public sector earners. Now the figure just rose to 200+ years. Gee.

I've already mentioned in my previous post regarding my opinions on this.
Just to reiterate on it, not that I think that the ministers/mps don't deserve such salary, but I just don't see monetary reward as the right way to go for the public service.

I shall stop here, before anything politically incorrect slips off my fingers.

Essays

I just realised the MAS essay has already been opened.

And it's topic is on something that I am very interested about. So it is a die die must do essay. =D

Since I feel slightly better, it's time to consume a bit of my brain cells.

Sick

Fever + Diarrhoea + Feel like puking. Had a horrible night last night and a horrible day today.

Went for reservist briefing. Just realised that my unit will be broken up and used to top up the other battalions. =/

Then there aren't people I know. The next few years are going to suck.. BIG TIME.

KTVing

It has been a while since I KTVed, and then suddenly, I went KTV twice in a span of 2 days. Haha

Yesterday with people from EA, then today with the NEFMQ people. Haha. Now my throat a bit sore. lol. Money is flowing out of my wallet like water dripping out of a tap that is not turned tightly. Bit by bit, but in time to come, it will fill a bucket!

But I really did enjoy myself these couple of days. =)
A break from my utter bordem at home.

So now I've got things to do, Budget essay, my part of the new NEFMQ proposal and read up on investments.

Rising Prices.

CPI is rising. Taxi fares are rising. And I believe that bus and MRT fares are going to rise too.

People would have different reactions vis-a-vis the hike in fares, but mine would be to simply cab less.

Sadly, none in my family has benefitted from the boom economy in Singapore. My mum hasn't had a bonus in 3 - 4 years, got her pay docked a few times because her company wasn't performing well and yet she puts in 200% effort in her job. I've a fixed nominal allowance, despite rising nominal wage from tuition from teaching longer hours, I'm getting less utility from teaching my boy. Partly because I feel underpaid and partly because I want to use more brains when teaching.

Some people are filthy rich, while some struggle to stay afloat in the vast and hungry ocean. Some are born into it, while some work hard for it.

Money is such an amazing entity. You can never do without it. Money per se isn't everything, but in contemporary society, ceteris paribus, I'd rather be rich than poor. Thus I need to keep myself motivated in moving towards my goals. Whether I get a Ph.D or not doesn't matter, all I seek is success and happiness.

Motivation comes in different shapes and sizes.

For me, it's my family. What's yours?

I wanted to write the Budget essay. But can't seem to bring myself to start writing it. Haha. Downloaded most of the relevant information to get me started.

Maybe I shall spend some quality time tomorrow morning to brain storm about it.

Jack and Edgar are both away!

Gang:
When is the next gathering? Desaru?

I hate the feeling of emptiness.

Things to do this break.
*Shed at least 2kg.
Meet up with people.
Essay.
*Check my eye.
Shopping.
Read up on investments.
Finish reading my new books.

* indicates priority.

Over.

Finally the exams are over.

Now I am feeling lost. Haha. Feeling slightly empty.
I need to do something constructive.

Went walk walk with wq yesterday before meeting the EA people. Had the mail servers been more efficient, more people would have turned up, but still, it wasn't too bad. More outings planned. =) This could be one of my best december holidays ever. A occupied one that doesnt just revolve around sleeping and gaming. Haha.

Going to restart my training soon. I hope.

Back to watching Heroes.

Tanks.

I was watching TV this morning and realised that there are alot of tank collectors in the world.

I didn't know it is so liberal out there. Haha. But as long as they keep their tanks safely under their custody, I'm pretty indifferent whether they collect tanks or bicycles.

It's quite amazing to see how passionate they are with their tanks and they have mock exercises to replay out battles of WW2. Very cool. Some tanks are even registered modes of transportation - meaning they can be driven on roads / highways.

If only certain things were still what they were.

Switched off.

I'm switched off for studying Genes and Society.

Sucks to have a paper 5 days after all the core modules.

Well, at least I understand something now that I didn't understand previously. Haha. The result for sleeping during lectures.

I'm just waiting to enjoy my holidays.

Anyway, I am considering Lasik. Any recommendations?
Specialist clinics or Hospitals? If you ignore the pricing.

Run run run!

Just completed the Standard Chartered Half Marathon this morning. Quite a disappointing run la. It was quite alright from the first cm to the 16th km, then I cramped. =/ Severe cramp that left me rooted to the spot for several minutes. I couldn't move an inch. I felt the cramp coming after passing the 14km mark, so I did some stretching and walked a bit, was hoping to find some deepheat along the way. Then ALL the medical stations and personnels ran out of deep heat. =/ So I was limping from 16 to abt 19km enduring the pain. I suspect the usual lack of salt, since my arms were full of salt by that time. My shorts had streaks of salt marks too. (I think I can be a desalination plant.) Another suspicion I had is that my calves and thighs are not strong enough. So its operation training on my core muscle group once I recover from the lingering cramp.

Brend and I started the race abt 20mins late because we were queueing for toilet before the start line. Haha. Then we went on a chasing the main bulk mission. Eventually we separated haha. Saw this girl wearing a wedding gown (Ok, maybe just a veil and a white halter dress) running. Quite cool. Another man was pulling a tire along the way. Respect.

When I finally overcame the cramp, it was nearing the end point. Haha. And so qiao, I saw small mouse when we were turning in! Hee. It is fate I tell you. Hee. After that went on to collect the medal and bag. Had brunch with brend before heading home. Slept for a couple of hours. Haha. Tired.

Okay, it is confirmed. I will take part in the full marathon next year. Partly because I want the finisher tee, and also I want to prove that I can do it. So I'm looking for run buddies starting from now!

And now, back to studying for Genes and Society. =/

I was influenced by Jack's post to post this.

I too find it ironic that I manage to find time to do so many other things that I dont normally do. Haha. Oh well. Must be the sian of studying syndrome acting up.

I've actually planned out what I wanted to study next sem as well.

Micro analysis 2,
Money and Banking / Financial Economics/Econometric 2/ International Economics / any Science Gem. ->( Any 2) ,
Intro to Psych (The only draw back is that it is monday 1800 to 2000 - So if my frens not taking this sem, I'll give it a miss again.) ,
Bahasa Indonesia 1.


Yeah, we should never give up when we fail even though giving up may be the easiest way out.